In a day dominated by underdogs, it was Mexican team SCRY that proved the most improbable of winners. Taking the lobby win and knocking off several favorites in the process, the free-agent Apex Legends squad sealed their victory in the final match of the day, and qualified for the Split 2 playoffs in the process.Â
The day began with a few playoff spots attainable for several teams on the bubble, and nearly all of them were playing in the same lobby: Complexity, CLG, Sentinels, Torrent, RCO eSports, SCRY, and Dubblyew all stood a realistic shot of qualifying if things went their way. Spacestation Gaming, also in the lobby, was technically not locked in for playoffs at the beginning of the games, but only needed to not have a completely catastrophic day to qualify comfortably.
Competition was fierce with so many teams with something to play for in the lobby, and it showed in game one, when Dubblyew took out RCO for the first victory of the day.
Dubblyew came through the final ring from the edge of zone, finishing off several third party fights on their way to an important win for the team. The game got off to the worst possible start for Sentinels, who were dropped in dead last with zero kills after running into NRG on the edge of an early zone. Many other teams in the hunt for playoffs had brighter fortunes in the Climatizer endgame, however, with CLG and Spacestation also popping up in the top five.
Game two featured a brutal Thermal Station zone, ending away from any buildings and with only a few rocks for cover. In the fray that ensued, CLG came out on top.
CLG leaned heavily on their fighting ability in a zone that seemed made for it, and it paid off. As teams around them fell, they almost miraculously managed to keep their members alive and in relatively good health, before engaging in the final 3-vs-3 fight with SCRY when one member of the Mexican squad overextended. The win took CLG straight to the top of the day’s leaderboard, leading Dubblyew by three points, while SCRY slid into third place behind them.
Game three featured yet another tough final ring, finishing on the hill between The Dome and Lava City. The height disparities and open ground meant death for many of the heavyweights in the lobby, and it was RCO eSports that took advantage.
It was yet another game where the bubble teams flipped the script on the so-called favorites. After the first three games in the lobby, the top four spots were held by Dubblyew, RCO, CLG, and SCRY, while teams like Sentinels, Spacestation, and NRG sat in 11th, 13th, and 14th, respectively. Complexity, needing points to secure their own playoff spot, were dead last after the first three games, with only three games remaining.
Spacestation fans breathed a sigh of relief when the Storm Point games began, as SSG did a speedrun of the final circle, making almost a half loop of the remaining available space and winning fight after fight en route to a huge 16-kill win.
SSG entered the match day only needing a couple points to secure their playoff spot in Stockholm, but a lackluster start in tandem with several of the teams on the bubble doing extremely well was making their outlook on the day seem not so sure. The win in game four, however, launched the squad into fifth place. If they could maintain that position, they would be comfortably in North America’s top 10.
If game four let SSG breathe easier, game five made a whole lot of other teams more nervous, as SSG won their second game in a row to take the lead in the lobby.
In a rotation that saw several members of Spacestation need to clutch up in dire situations, the team continually managed to stabilize and survived to the top three. There, they received a bit of good fortune when Sentinels decided to push towards E8, a move that got Sentinels a second place finish, but allowed SSG to enter the last fight of the game with a health advantage, and take the win. The victory put the team in first place with one game remaining, and suddenly, things looked much more bleak for several bubble teams. Sentinels, in particular, would need a massive game six and help from the rest of the lobby eliminating some of the teams in front of them early if they wanted to earn a playoff spot.
One team would get the massive game they needed. And it would not be Sentinels.
In a fight that felt as meaningful symbolically as it did in the grand scheme of the match day, SCRY won the final game of the day, and they did it by taking out a weakened Sentinels squad. Once again, Sentinels managed to get themselves into the top three, and once again they won their first fight in that top three. But they couldn’t stave off the third party for the second game in a row, as well, and the result sealed their fate: 11th place in Pro League. Sentinels would not make playoffs. Another disappointment on the day? Complexity, who began the day in the top 10 of Pro League, but a 19th place finish on the final match day dropped the veteran squad all the way down to 14th in NA.
Instead, Mexico would be represented in Stockholm, as SCRY jumped up the Pro League leaderboard with a lobby victory on the day to slide into the 9th spot overall, while CLG managed to cling to the 10th and final playoff position. Spacestation came in second place on the day, and the result coupled with the results from the other lobby meant the team would actually climb further up the Pro League table to fifth, leapfrogging TSM and Cloud9.
Split 2 is done. Stockholm and the Split 2 playoffs await. And North America’s representatives are set.
Published: Mar 28, 2022 11:49 pm